lundi 30 novembre 2009

The Art of Party Crashing - The Salahis

The couple Michaele and Tareq Salahi has attracted media attention for having managed to enter an official reception held by the President Barack Obama. I was not surprised to learn that the White House had been the victim of "Party crashers" because for many, this way to attend events is a lifestyle. And I would add that many journalists practice this art with great skill ...

Curiously, the authors of "party crashing" are often people very rich. Robert Maxwell was a great lover of this kind of technique and he loved to crash cocktails on yachts of his competitors... His favorite technique was to arrive few minutes before the captain weighed anchor and shout to wait whilejumping on board. In the hubbub nobody asked him if he was invited. Ironically, he died by being thrown overboard from his own yacht.The journalists are probably the most daring "party crasher" that I know but if you ask them, they will tell you they do that for inside information. This is true in many cases, but if you ask Serge Losique, President of the Montreal World Films Festival , he would probably answer that many are mere freeloaders who want a free lunch ...

Personally, I stopped being a "party crasher" many years ago. If not I am not invited, I am just stay at home and I rest in the comfort of my house. Note that there also reverse to the "party crashing" and those are the organizers who do not want to invite you but would like very much the journalists to talk about their event in the media. They send you news release and suggest that you to attend the red carpet to take pictures and then leave because they lack space to accommodate the press at the event itself. Again, I stopped running and I refuse any invitation to the red carpet unless I am also invited to the full event. Watch others eat and drink has never been my favorite sport ...

That said, one might wonder what is motivating to attend a party to which we are not invited. In my opinion, attending a reception is a way to socialize with friends and not impose himself on people that we do not really know! We only live once, and I prefer to live in reality